Good Sunday Morning, Fellow Seekers. We have always believed in the maxim that true justice is blind -- but if new state court rules are any indication, it is also supposed to ignore decimal points and dollar signs as well.

The rule is something of a victory for judicial reformers, who have long made the entirely sane argument that judicial campaign donors might get a fairer hearing (or at least appear to receive one) than someone who had not given to a judge's campaign.

The guidelines, as Daniels notes, are new territory for state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron Castille, who joined the high court in 1993. During the 40 years since the last Code of Judicial Conduct rewrite, election spending skyrocketed and fundraising methods multiplied.

“We know the election process, we know the issues, and it's just trying to address them fairly,” Castille told Daniels. “It's complicated, and difficult.”

The rules addressing ethical behavior among the state's 450 trial judges and 38 appellate judges took effect on July 1.

Under the guidelines, judges should recuse themselves if they learn a party in a case makes a donation “in an amount that would raise a reasonable concern” about fairness or impartiality, the newspaper reported.

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